A gathering place for people fighting FATCA, FBAR and US citizenship-based taxation

New Year’s News

It’s hard to believe we are entering yet one more year with FATCA hanging over our heads. For many of us, 2014 is the fourth calendar year (2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014) we have been living with this nightmare.

On the first regular working day of 2014, there are some interesting articles.

2 thoughts on “New Year’s News”

I just submitted a story idea to the CBC’s The National. I doubt I’ll get any response, or that it will get any attention, but I had to try (again). I tried to keep it short and to the point, so it doesn’t cover everything. At any rate, here’s what I said,

I would dearly love to see an in depth analysis of the impact on millions of Canadians from the U.S.’s Foreign Account Tax
Compliance Act – FATCA. There have been few stories, and those have not dealt with the true impact of an issue that is imperiling the financial health of at least a million Canadians and their families, with a direct impact on millions.

I’ve seen no mention on The Insiders or At Issue, despite the impact on Canada, and Canadians. The U.S. is attempting to force our banks, and our government to comply with, and enforce, a U.S. law. Although Minister Flaherty came out 2 years ago strongly against FATCA, there has been very little said since, mainly that our government is negotiating an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA), with no transparency on what that IGA might contain.

There have been no answers on if Canada is going to stop banks from violating the privacy of millions of Canadians – against our charter of rights and freedoms. The financial impact of that violation on Canada’s economy would be considerable. Right now, Canadians with U.S. ties are being forced to use their retirement funds to pay tens of thousands of dollars for expert assistance to come into compliance with U.S. laws that they were unaware even affected them. Many have been fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for non-compliance. This money would have been, should have been,
spent in Canada – where it was earned, where taxes were paid on it, but instead it’s going directly into the U.S. coffers.

We desperately need an open and frank analysis of the impact – we’re certainly not getting that from our government.

For true and personal stories, and the impact of FATCA, you can go to Maplesandbox.ca or Isaacbrocksociety.ca.